


Delirium

by lucky_katebishop



Series: Flufftober 2019 [3]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Flufftober 2019, Gen, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Humor, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Minor Tony Stark - Freeform, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sleep Deprivation, Tired Peter Parker, yes I still haven't finished that challenge shhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucky_katebishop/pseuds/lucky_katebishop
Summary: He walked over to his phone, which was still plugged into the wall. Matt must’ve heard Peter’s heart rate drop when Peter saw he had twenty missed calls from May, about thirty texts from Happy, and ten voicemails from Mr. Stark, because Matt sighed.“I said I took care of it!”“How exactly did you take care of it?” Peter asked through gritted teeth.“I called the school and excused your absence,” Matt shrugged. Peter raised a confused eyebrow. “I pretended to be your aunt’s boyfriend. Clever, right?”Peter quickly swiped through Happy’s text messages and resisted the urge to scream when he saw a message that said, “kid, everyone thinks you were kidnapped. ANSWER YOUR PHONE!”Peter's sleep deprived, Matt is a human disaster, Tony thinks Peter was kidnapped, Jessica is no help at all, and Michelle and Ned are the only ones with any brain cells around here.
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Flufftober 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1513424
Comments: 18
Kudos: 292





	Delirium

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who has stayed awake for four to five days straight, it really sucks. That was the worst Christmas break ever. However, I am making it a bit more dramatic for Peter. He has to go to school and do patrol, all I did was sit up straight in my bed staring at the wall with a major migraine and go to the doctor’s three times. Also I meant to update this a lot earlier but I couldn't figure out how to end it. Maybe the ending is good, maybe it's not, but the middle is just great!

Peter stared at his clock, watching the little hand move over to the six. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He’d been up since March 14. It was now March 20. Well, okay, that was a little bit of an exaggeration. He took cat naps here and there, mostly at lunch directly on his fruit cup and wilted salad. 

It had gotten so bad that he genuinely forgot what it was like to get more than three hours of sleep. Ah, three hours… that seemed like a luxury to Peter, who had his AP American history textbook in front of him. He blinked slowly, relishing in the three seconds his eyes were closed, and wrote down notes lazily in his notebook. 

At this point, all the words in the textbook seemed like they were all on top of each other, and he couldn’t focus. He had a major migraine, and the lights all seemed too bright, and his bed looked extremely comfortable and- 

No. His history test was _today._ He had to study, something that he had neglected to do earlier in favor of patrol. 

Peter stood up, and immediately regretted it, holding onto his desk for support to ride out his dizziness. He stumbled his way toward the bathroom, his feet carrying him before his mind could catch up. He got in the shower, fully clothed, letting the cold water hit his skin like tiny electrocuted shocks. 

May was getting _worried._ She had to flag him down in the hallway of their apartment complex the morning before because he still had his suit on. 

“What if we played hooky? I take off work, you take off school, and we can order take-out and watch the Turner Classic Movie channel.” 

“Mhn, no, is ‘right,” Peter responded sluggishly, slurring his words. 

He hated when May was worried about him. _When May freaks out, I freak out._ He didn’t _mean_ to worry her, he never did. But he had school. He had patrol. He had responsibilities, and with responsibility comes power and all that. 

Peter didn’t remember getting to school, but he found himself by Ned’s locker, watching him intently take out his textbooks. 

Peter grasped Ned’s shoulder and looked around frantically. 

“When the hell did I get here?” Peter asked, his voice hushed. Ned looked at him cautiously. 

“What?” Ned asked as he shut his locker. 

“Hey losers,” MJ said, walking up to them with a cardboard carrier filled with three coffees. 

“Are these for us?” Ned asked Michelle, staring at the coffees in confusion. 

“No, they’re for my other friends, in which one happens to be a masked vigilante,” Michelle said in complete seriousness. “Of course they’re for you idiots.” 

“I don’t know what you do in your spare time,” Ned justified, “as far as I know, you could have many vigilante friends that you give coffee to.” 

Peter shut his eyes, hoping that it would calm down the pounding in his head. He clutched onto Ned’s arm for support. 

“If any of us need coffee, it’s you,” MJ said, holding out a coffee to Peter. He shook his head against Ned’s shoulder. 

“‘I’m not supposed to have coffee,” Peter slurred softly, “It makes me jittery.” 

Michelle narrowed her eyes at Peter and took stock of his appearance. He was wearing the same blue flannel he’d been wearing all week, and she knew he didn’t have identical blue flannels because she’s been in his closet before. His hair was curlier and frizzier than normal, most likely due to air-drying and lack of styling products. Not to mention he was wearing sweats. 

“When was the last time you had proper sleep?” MJ asked Peter. 

“I had to study for the history test,” Peter mumbled, his voice muffled against Ned’s shoulder. Ned and Michelle looked at each other in concern. 

“Um, Pete?” Ned asked softly, placing a hand on Peter’s back. Peter moved his head a couple inches to sleepily look up at Ned. 

“Yeah?” 

“The history test was yesterday,” Ned said softly. 

“No, it’s today,” Peter said sharply. 

“It’s really not, though,” MJ said, “damn, you should really get some sleep.” 

“No, it’s no-” Peter exclaimed, “fuck.” 

He let go of Ned and slid down against the lockers onto the ground. He put his head in his hands.

MJ and Ned watched Peter and drank their coffees as they waited for Peter to react. Peter’s shoulders started to tremble. 

“Is he crying or laughing?” Ned asked frantically. “MJ, is he laughing or crying?” 

“I think it’s both,” Michelle said. 

“I studied so hard,” Peter laughed maniacally, tears rolling down his cheeks. Ned crouched down and placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. 

“I know, buddy. I know.” 

After about five minutes, Peter got up and went to his first class.

The rest of the school day was pretty uneventful. Michelle tried to force Peter to sleep during lunch, to no avail. Peter remembered receiving a text from Mr. Stark about visiting him during the weekend, and he might have messaged back like ten or so emojis instead of words. 

His afternoon blended into his night, consumed with mindless studying, ten minute naps, and patrol. To get rid of the burning in his eyes and the aching in his body, he kept swinging around New York, waiting for crime to corrupt the city.

Peter barely registered getting on top of a roof, but he had to take a break. His side burned with pain and his body felt incredibly heavy. Not to mention the stars and the pavement kept switching (which made it very hard to get on top of the roof). 

“I think it’s fine if I stay here tonight, don’t you, Karen?” Peter asked as he laid down on the ground. 

“I recommend you go home and get some rest, Peter,” Karen’s robotic voice responded. Peter shook his head and groaned when that resulted in throbbing. 

“I don’t know which way is home, though,” Peter sighed, his face squished up against the cold pavement. 

He didn’t _mean_ to shut his eyes and drift off to sleep. Peter was just in a lot of pain and the exhaustion of staying up for an incredible amount of time made it difficult to keep his eyes open. 

He dreamt about exams and stabbings, and even a stabbing occurring while he was taking a test, when he was woken up by his spidey-sense. 

His eyes flew open as his entire body tensed. He kept very still, his sleep deprived mind somehow convincing him that if he stayed still the bad guy wouldn’t get him. 

“Peter? What the hell are you doing?” a deep gravelly voice spoke. Peter ungracefully rolled around and saw the one and only Daredevil staring at him intently. 

“Hey, Matt,” Peter spoke sleepily. “Have you ever stabbed someone with your horns?” 

Matt stood over Peter, his horns reflecting in the moonlight. Peter’s head rolled to the side and he sighed contently. 

“Are you high?” Matt asked. He couldn’t smell alcohol on Peter, but some substances went undetected, and Peter’s heartbeat was _very_ slow, and he knew Peter wasn’t injured or concussed because there was no smell of blood. 

“Hugs not drugs, kids,” Peter slurred. Matt stood with his arms crossed as he listened to Peter attempt to get up, which he would’ve found amusing in other circumstances, but not in this particular one. 

“What are you on, Peter?” He could call Claire. She would probably scare him straight. Maybe the other Defenders could help with that. Karen never met the kid but he doubted that she wouldn’t help out. 

Matt was so caught up in figuring out how to handle this teenage rebellion, he barely recognized that Peter almost fell off the roof. 

“‘M not high, Matt, ‘m just tired,” Peter said as Matt pulled him towards the center of the roof. “It’s midterms week.” 

“So you’re just incredibly sleep deprived and stressed?” Matt asked, still a little unsure, although it would make more sense in Peter’s case. Peter nodded his head against Matt’s shoulder. 

“Alright, come with me,” Matt sighed, pulling Peter along with him.

* * *

Peter found himself waking up in a sea of soft silk sheets and the softest pillows he’d ever felt. For the first time in two weeks, he’d felt completely rested. 

So obviously something was wrong. 

Peter looked all around for his phone, which to his demise, was completely dead _and_ had a giant crack on the upper right side of the screen. 

“Huh,” Peter mumbled to himself. He didn’t remember cracking his phone screen. To be honest, he didn’t remember much about the night before. 

Well, he assumed it was the morning as the curtains were drawn. Peter was about to inspect it more when he remembered that Matt had found him almost unconscious on the roof. 

So this was Matt’s bedroom. Daredevil himself. The walls were a light beige and the curtains were as red as Matt’s suit, and, considering Matt’s blindness, there was no sight of decorations or photographs. 

He got up and saw that he was wearing an immensely comfortable pair of sweats and a t-shirt that had the Columbia crest on it. He vaguely remembered throwing his suit at Matt in the middle of the night, but he didn’t make much of it. 

He wondered what Matt was like as a teenager. Maybe they would be friends. Or maybe teenage Matt was even more angsty than current Matt, and in that case, Peter would probably stay clear of him. 

His phone in hand, Peter walked out of the bedroom and stopped when he spotted Matt at the dining room on his laptop.

“Good morning,” Matt said. 

He’d never really seen Matt without his suit on, or at least fully. He almost looked _normal_ in his civilian clothes. 

“Hey,” Peter said as he rested one shoulder against the door frame.

“How’d you sleep?” Matt asked, his fingers still trailing on the keyboard Peter assumed was translated into braille. 

“Um, fine.” 

One thing that was a plus side of exhaustion was the lack of dreams, or nightmares, in Peter’s case. 

“There’s hot tea in the kettle on the stove and tea bags in the cupboard if you want some. There’s also a phone charger in the outlet to your right.” 

“Wait, you can tell how charged a phone is? Is it because of electrical signals and you can feel the vibrations or something?” Peter asked, staring dumbly at his phone in complete awe. 

“No,” Matt laughed, the loud sound echoing against the walls, “I’m not magic, Peter, it’s just you weren’t playing with it, which is rare among your generation. That, and I didn’t hear you try to make any calls or texts.” 

“Oh,” Peter replied, feeling like a complete asshole.

After plugging his phone, he walked towards the kitchen to get some tea. He didn’t really even enjoy tea, he just wanted something to do with his hands. 

He’d be lying if he said he and Matt were close. Sure, they knew each other's alter egos, but besides that, Peter didn’t really know anything about the man. 

Peter knew Matt was a lawyer, he had a friend named Foggy, and some shit went down with Fisk just a couple years before. Oh, and that he had extremely soft sheets and clothes. And apparently a gigantic tea selection. 

“Woah,” Peter mumbled as he shuffled around the tea packages. 

“Whenever my friend Karen stumbles across a tea that I might like, she always buys it for me. Seventy-five percent of that collection is just because of her,” Matt smiled. 

Well, that’s another thing Peter knew about him. 

“That’s nice. Whenever I have a really bad patrol, my friend MJ brings me hot chocolate the morning after.” 

Peter didn’t really know what he’d get into by being friends with MJ, but hot chocolate wasn’t really something he expected. May had told him that it could be a way for MJ to be there for him because it wasn’t like she could fight bad guys with him or hack into servers and be his guy in the chair like Ned. 

After Peter made his tea, he sat at the table with Matt, taking gradual sips and tried his best not to cringe at the taste. Since the apartment was so quiet, Peter could hear basically the entire floor, and if he strained his ears hard enough, the level below. 

Some couple was fighting about the different types of jam, and suppressed a laugh when one of the women yelled that strawberry was the best. 

“I never liked strawberry jam,” Matt mumbled, a faint smile appearing on his face. Peter smiled into his cup. 

“I didn’t mean to listen in, I just,” Peter started. 

“Couldn’t help it,” Matt supplied, a knowing tired look on his face. Peter shrugged his shoulder in agreement and stared intently at how his tea swirled at a sudden movement. 

He looked around Matt’s apartment, and smiled when he saw a picture of what he assumed was Matt, Foggy, and Karen on one of the walls. That really was the only piece of decoration Matt actually had, and he figured it was more for Foggy and Karen than for him. 

“How’d you know I was there?” Peter asked. He wondered what would’ve happened if Matt hadn’t found him on the roof. _Probably would’ve slept on the roof all night like an idiot._

“I was trying to track down the Kitchen Irish when I heard you talk to your AI. I knew that if you were willing to go into Hell’s Kitchen without contacting me then something was up.” 

Maybe Peter didn’t really need to know all that much about Matt. They had each other's backs, and maybe that was enough. Peter couldn’t help the big smile that was on his face, and he hugged his tea closer to himself. 

“Thanks for helping me out, Matt,” Peter started, “it means a lot. I probably would’ve woken up on that roof really confused. Not to mention I’d be totally late for my calculus test this morning.” 

Well, Peter _hoped_ that his calculus test was this morning, and not another history exam debacle. 

Matt stopped typing and cocked his head towards Peter. 

“Pete, it’s almost noon.” 

Peter swore his heart almost stopped. He stood up quickly, giving him a head rush and, if not for his quick reflexes, almost spilled his tea all over Matt’s table. He heard Matt sigh a _very_ deep breath and watched as he stood up. 

“Don’t worry about it, I took care of it,” Matt said passively as he walked towards his front door. 

“What do you mean, ‘took care of it?’” 

He was in deep shit. Really, _really_ deep shit. Not only was that test worth more than forty percent of his grade, but with Peter’s past history of ditching, the school most definitely called May, who would most likely call Mr. Stark. Not to mention whatever the fuck Matt was talking about. 

Peter dove for his phone at the same time the one and only Jessica Jones stepped into the apartment. She caught Peter by surprise, which resulted in him falling down face first into the floor. 

“Ow,” Peter groaned.

“Murdock, why is there a boy in your apartment?” Peter heard Jessica ask in a deadpan voice. 

“I’m Spider-Man,” Peter mumbled into the floor. He hoped the ground would open up so he didn’t have to live with the embarrassment of falling flat on his face in front of another superhero. 

Jessica turned to Matt and crossed her arms. 

“Murdock, why is there a boy in your apartment?” she echoed. Matt rubbed his face. 

“He almost fell off a building last night due to sleep deprivation, so he crashed here.” Matt explained. 

“I didn’t ‘almost fall off a building,’” Peter protested. He had yet to attempt getting up, as he found comfort in the cold floor. 

“You would’ve been dead if I hadn’t saved you.” 

“I wish I was dead right now,” Peter groaned dramatically. 

“Do you need help up?” 

Peter waved Matt away. “No, I still have _some_ dignity left,” Peter said as he stood up. 

He walked over to his phone, which was still plugged into the wall. Matt must’ve heard Peter’s heart rate drop when Peter saw he had twenty missed calls from May, about thirty texts from Happy, and ten voicemails from Mr. Stark, because Matt sighed. 

“I said I took care of it!” 

“How exactly did you take care of it?” Peter asked through gritted teeth.

“I called the school and excused your absence,” Matt shrugged. Peter raised a confused eyebrow. “I pretended to be your aunt’s boyfriend. Clever, right?” 

Peter quickly swiped through Happy’s text messages and resisted the urge to scream when he saw a message that said, “kid, everyone thinks you were kidnapped. ANSWER YOUR PHONE!” 

Through gritted teeth, Peter said, “For someone who went to law school, you are so unbelievably stupid, Murdock.” 

Matt cocked his head in confusion, which gave him the puppy dog look that in any other circumstance than this one, Peter would’ve sympathized with. 

“My aunt doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Peter whispered with a fury that Matt had never heard before. Jessica had already made herself comfortable on the couch with Matt’s hidden liquor. 

“Yeah, that’s why I _pretended_ to be your aunt’s boyfriend.”

“Ever since the ferry accident, Mr. Stark has been on my ass about going to school, so he checks in, and when he gets a notification about someone pretending to be my aunt’s boyfriend excusing my absence, he goes to the obvious conclusion. He thinks I’m _kidnapped_.” 

The only sound in the apartment was the loud snort made by Jessica. Peter was staring daggers at Matt, who unfortunately felt it and resisted the urge to cringe. 

“Wait, where’s my suit? Mr. Stark would’ve tracked it by now.” 

“Uh,” was Matt’s reply. 

“Where the fuck is my suit, Murdock?” 

“I might’ve hid in the docks.” 

“I’m sorry, I thought I just heard you say you hid my multi-million dollar suit in the docks,” Peter laughed. He must be more exhausted than he thought because no way Matt would actually-

“Um, I did.” 

The last time Peter’s eye started twitching like this was back in middle school when Flash had started becoming a major dick to him. 

“To be fair, though, you woke me up in the middle of the night screaming that Tony Stark would track you down and find out my identity and that I had to hide your suit.” 

“SO YOU CHOSE THE DOCKS?” Peter yelled. “They straight up think I’m kidnapped. Not only kidnapped, but that my kidnapper knows my identity and where I go to school.” 

“I can see how you could be frustrated-” 

“ _Run_.” 

Peter chased Matt all around his apartment, threatening to throw chairs at him. 

“Why don’t you just call your aunt and explain?” Matt yelled as he ducked from a pillow. 

“I can’t explain to her that I stayed at a local vigilante’s house! It’s not like she’d be thrilled with me hanging out with Daredevil or even hanging out with a thirty year old man!” 

“Mid-thirties, but-” 

“Oh my God!” Peter screamed in frustration. 

“Pete, I’m sor-” 

Matt cut off and cocked his head. He walked towards the front door right as Peter picked up a lamp. Jessica took a big swig of Matt’s whiskey. 

When Matt opened the door, his senses were attacked by too much deodorant and… cheetos?

“You owe me twenty dollars,” a feminine voice barked to the person next to her. 

“But-but that’s impossible! No way Daredevil is a blind lawyer!” the anonymous kid spoke. 

Out of habit, Matt said quietly, “I’m not Daredevil.” 

The girl brushed past him, with the other kid tailing behind her, into the living room, leaving Matt holding the door open. 

“MJ? Ned?” Peter asked in surprise, the lamp still in his hand. 

“What the hell happened here?” MJ asked, surveying the room around her. Cushions were thrown all over the floor, as were chairs and pillows. 

“The kid was throwing a tantrum,” Jessica retorted. Michelle nodded her head towards Jess. 

“Jessica Jones, nice,” MJ whispered. Jessica raised her bottle in solidarity. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Peter asked. 

“Well, that Happy guy texted Ned and asked where you were, and we thought it was weird that you completely ditched your test,” Michelle shrugged. 

Matt walked back into the living room towards Jess and took a huge swig of whiskey from the bottle. 

“Please don’t throw that lamp at me, Peter,” Matt sighed. 

“You deserve it, but okay,” Peter caved as he sat the lamp down on the table. 

“Are you actually Daredevil?” Ned asked Matt, with wide eyes. 

“He’s an idiot, that’s what he is,” Peter mumbled, “how did you guys find me, anyway? Not even Mr. Stark could track me down.” 

Peter was so in for it with Mr. Stark, especially since Peter kept rejecting the newest Stark phone model, claiming that if anything happened to him, Tony could just track Peter with his suit and didn’t need a fancy phone.

“Snap maps,” Michelle shrugged. Peter furrowed his brows.   
  


“Really?” 

“Yeah. If you’re going to continue this vigilante thing, you really need to turn off your location.” 

Peter stared at Michelle for a few seconds, not knowing whether or not to be impressed that she figured it out or incredibly embarrassed that he didn’t even think of that. 

“Oh,” was all Peter could respond with. Michelle smirked and walked towards him. 

“You owe us lunch,” MJ said, taking a hold of Peter’s wrist and dragging him along towards the door. 

“But I’m not done yelling at Matt!” Peter whined, causing Michelle to drop his wrist and fold her arms. Jessica snorted, which caused Matt to sigh loudly. 

“Jessica, why are you even here? Don’t you have the bottom of a bottle to find?” Matt asked exasperatedly. Jessica lifted the whiskey bottle.

“You have expensive booze thanks to your sensitive senses, and I need help with a case. The guy I’m trying to find is being really annoying and I need your hound-dog nose to sniff him out for me,” Jessica explained. Matt put his head in his hands. 

“Are you forgetting I have an actual job?” 

“I already ran it by Karen, she said to utilize you. Not to mention that the guy I’m trying to find is the one and only leader of the Kitchen Irish, so,” Jess shrugged. 

“Can I help?” Peter asked, causing Michelle and Ned to look at him. “Listen, anything is better than having to explain this whole situation to May and Mr. Stark.” 

“No,” both Jessica and Matt said. 

“We don’t need infants helping us look for a mob leader,” Jessica explained. Peter clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head.   
  


“I could be valuable. They’d never expect Spider-Man.” 

“Peter, you almost fell off a roof last night due to sleep exhaustion, I don’t think you’re ready to fight the mob just yet,” Matt said. Peter rolled his eyes right as Michelle pushed him. 

“You almost fell off a roof? You idiot, I told you to get some sleep! Or at least drink your weight in caffeine!” Michelle yelled. Peter smirked. 

“Are you worried about me?” Michelle rolled her eyes. 

“No, I’m just making sure your cover isn’t blown so Ned and I aren’t imprisoned for accessory to vigilantism.” 

“Yeah, and Matt isn’t Daredevil,” Peter snorted. Ned gasped and pointed towards Matt. 

“But how!” 

“Okay, alright, it’s time for you kids to go do whatever kids do at one in the afternoon,” Matt sighed. 

“Ned and I did skip class, so we should probably go back to school to get our detentions,” Michelle shrugged. Peter cringed. 

“Wait, why didn’t you just wait until after school?” Peter asked. 

“Because Ned was freaking out too much during lunch so we decided to skip fifth period. It’s fine, I can always make up the test, and Ned had his study period anyway.” 

Peter was suddenly filled with warmth inside, and he tackled Michelle and Ned in a bear hug. 

“I love you guys so much!” 

He wasn’t sure if it was the overwhelming feeling of love for his friends or the aftermath of getting enough sleep to combat his sleep exhaustion, but Peter was crying a little on Ned’s shoulder. 

Ned chuckled and patted Peter’s back. 

“Okay, let’s get you back before Mr. Stark calls the Avengers to find you.” Peter looked at Ned in confusion. 

“He wouldn’t do that,” Peter pouted. 

Ned, Michelle, and Matt all sighed deeply. 

“Yes he would,” they said simultaneously. Peter cringed. 

“Oh, God, I’m gonna be grounded for a year, aren’t I?” 

Peter trudged towards the door with his friends and turned to look at Matt. 

“Thanks for saving me, but also not because I hate you and you did this,” Peter sighed noncommittally. Matt smirked. 

“Get some sleep, kid.” Peter waved him off and unlocked his phone.

As the three kids were walking down the stairs Peter called May. 

“Hey, May, so I’m alive and I think one day you’re actually going to laugh about this- Oh, I’m grounded? Forever? Yeah, checks out.”


End file.
